>> translator: usually the truck operators are quite fat because they're sitting down all day. they have a personal trainer to help them cut down their waistline so they can fit in the rescue capsule. >> reporter: work or rest, the miners spend their day wandering up and down between the workshop, refuge or camp. for the 14 smokers be, it's a long hike to light up. each has a ration of 11 cigarettes a day. >> translator: there are people who don't smoke and they don't like to have people smoking close by. so the smoking sector is well separated. >> reporter: on the surface, families spend hours poring out new feelings to their loved ones. day fades to black and sometime after midnight, miners finally have time to pen their heartfelt replies. >> translator: each one of them has had a lot of time to think

about what to do with the rest of their lives. >> reporter: but until the day one of the drills finally rescues them, those 33 lives must stay on hold. karl penhaul, cnn, at the san jose mine in northern chile. i'm don lemon. that is it for me. up next,ally velshi in new york. take it away. >> for the next two hours today and every weekday i'll guide you through the maze of information coming your way. boy, there's lots of it. today we'll learn what's going on at home and around the world. you'll get access to folks who can best explain what it means today and the impact beyond today. i'll showcase ideas and innovation philanthropy and public education. my mission is to figure out how what's going on around you fits into your life. let's get started. here's what i have on the rundown, she has less than eight hours to live. teresa lewis is scheduled to be

the first woman executed in the united states in five years she spoke to cnn. you'll hear what she said. plus, we take a bigger look at women on death row. cnn founder ted turner has been a leader in the global war on poverty. he says we're on track to win that war. he'll tell us why and what he's doing about it. you've been telling us who your heroes are, thousands of you. now we'll reveal the top ten cnn heroes of the year for the first time right here this hour on cnn. first if you want to make a republican smile, mention the year 1994. that year is midterm elections coming halfway through the first term of a democratic president, bill clinton, republicans picked up 54 house seats and 8 senate seats. more than enough to win control of both houses of congress. 16 years later, we are halfway through the first term of a democratic president, a different one now with the democratic majority in congress and republicans aren't the only ones making comparisons and predictions and promises. this morning, the house republican leadership rolled out

its pledge to america. a longer and less specific version of 1994's contract with america. the setting was a lumber company in northern virginia, the key points are these. a halt to any stimulus spending that hasn't gone out yet. and a rollback of overall spending to prestimulus, prebailout levels. repeal of the health care reform law. permanent extension of the bush era tax cuts for everybody. along with new tax breaks for small businesses. a freeze in nonsecurity related federal hiring and a requirement that all new legislation pass a constitution check. those last two points are a nod to the tea party which by the way handed several republican candidates their hats in this year's primaries. some brand new polling is boosting republican hopes in the november senate races with one big exception. our cnn senior political editor joins me from d.c. with the stories behind these numbers. let me get started with the

numbers. then i want to hear what you to say about it. in pennsylvania, former republican congressman pat toomey leads joe sestak 49% to 44%. wisconsin republican ron johnson leads three-term incumbent russ feingold, 51 to 45. in colorado, republican and tea party candidate, ken buck leads first term incumbent michael n bennet 49-44. tea party darling christine o'donnell runs far behind the democratic chris coons. that's a 16-point gap. let's go to mark. what do you make of all of this. >> ali, what the common thread is between all of the polls you cited. mike castle, the congressman here in washington, d.c. would have won that republican primary

last week. had he won, our polls showed that he would be up 18 points right now over the democrat coons in delaware. we're seeing a double digit deficit for christine o'donnell. however, by and large, ali, as you said, very good numbers for republicans. they've had the opportunity for knocking off an incumbent. russ feingold first electioned in 1992. that would be a huge win up in wisconsin. they also have the opportunity of picking up that colorado seat which seemed to be turning democrat. they also had the opportunity, of course, to pick up that pennsylvania seat. that was arlen specter's seat, the republican who turned democrat. all in all, pretty good news for republicans looking at those polls. >> let me ask you something. let's talk about delaware for a second. in case our viewers may have missed the context, christine o'donnell beat another republican who was polling higher than the democrat in that state. so this is a change in tide. this isn't just the democrat leading the republican candidate, this is a shift in

the saentiment for the party in delaware. >> yes, christine o'donnell, the tea party candidate came out of nowhere. she was aided in the final weeks of that primary campaign and was able to push it over the finish line to win. mike castle, the congressman who was expected to win, he was a former two-term governor, ali. he's a moderate, a centrist, especially in a state like delaware, that would have played very well. this senate seat we're talking about, joe biden held that seat since 1973 until he had to give it up to become the vice president. democrats now are breathing a sigh of relief or at least they think they are because they have an opportunity to hold on to that seat. at least today they do. ali? >> tell me real quick about the governor's race in colorado. >> sure. a shift back out west, dan maes, he's the candidate for the republican gubernatorial nominee out in colorado. that's another seat that republicans thought they could pick up. their nominee, scott mcginnis

tripped up. his past was revealed, a bunch of things happen. maes won. turns out he wasn't as truthful himself. now the republican party is in shambles. basically republicans have given up hope ali of winning that seat out in colorado. looks like it's going to go democrat. >> we'll talk to you again in this show. mark preston is our cnn senior political editor. he's in the cnn.com/politics center. go there for your latest news and the ticker. when you're the president of the united states you may be in a suburban backyard one day, a global arena the next. that's what president obama has been doing. he took center stage at the annual meeting of the u.n. general assembly on the topic of mideast peace. they restarted serious talks three weeks ago. the prospects continue to be uncertain at best. our sound effect is mr. obama's argument for pressing on. >> if an agreement is not reached, palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that

comes with their own state. israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to co-existence. the hard realities of demography will take hold. more blood will be shed. this holy land will remain a symbol of our differences instead of common humanity. i refuse to accept that future. and we all have a choice to make. each of us must choose the path of peace. we're all waiting to see what happens on sunday. that is the end of israel's self-imposed freeze on expanding jewish settlements in the west banks. palestinians have made it clear they will not continue to keep talking if israelis resume building. we'll stay on top of that for you. she's got about eight hours left on earth.

hear the voice of a condemned woman straight from death row and the controversy over her case, coming up next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america.

we are following breaking news right here in new york. obviously we've been telling you about the u.n. general assembly. lots of diplomats in town. susan candiotti is following the story for us. what do we know. >> in a violent death to be sure. sadly, the new york city police department tells us that this diplomat is 34 years old. he was found in his apartment this morning by his driver, his

chauffeur. 34 years old. we don't know, again, whether he was married, had children, was living there by himself. the driver discovered him, the front door was left open, was left ajar. police did find a knife and have recovered that from the scene. we don't know at this time, for sure, whether the driver was picking him up to take him to meet with his delegation, of course, for the u.n. general assembly which is meeting this week in new york. the circumstances are murky at this time. the police are not yet classifying this death as a homicide, as a suicide, we don't know. it's just too early. >> all right. >> it's the beginning stages of the investigation but certainly a shocking development. >> do we know if he's a diplomat stationed here? right now in this city there are diplomats stationed here and then there are those who are here visiting for the u.n. assembly. >> that's a good point. he's identified by the police as the consul, which would make him the top man at the embassy here, according to police. he would be second in rank only

to the ambassador. >> okay. >> from nicaragua. >> i know you're on the story. if you get anything else, let us know. a nicaraguan diplomat has been found dead in his apartment in the bronx. virginia has the second busiest death chamber in the country. it's preparing to execute another prisoner. teresa lewis is scheduled to die by lethal injection in less than eight hours. she would be the first woman put to death in america in five years. she admitted hiring hitmen to kill her husband and stepson. all her legal appeals have now been exhausted. still, there are people around the world fighting to save her life. on a couple of different grounds. i'll have more on that in a moment. first, let's look, big picture at condemned women in this country. right now, there are 61 women on death row in america. california has the most. 16 of them are there. texas has 10. at least 40 women have been executed in the past 100 years. 11 of those since the supreme court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

the last woman put to death was francis newton in texas in 2005. she was convicted of killing her husband and two sons. back to the case specifically of teresa lewis. which has sparked more than an outcry -- of more of an outcry than that of many other condemned prisoners. brian todd tells us why and talks to teresa lewis herself. >> reporter: from virginia's death row, teresa lewis sings for divine intervention. ♪ i need a miracle >> but no miracles come her way. virginia governor bob mcdonald refuses to issue a stay of execution. the supreme court denies her appeal. on thursday, teresa lewis will likely become the first woman put to death in virginia in nearly a century. i spoke with lewis just before the governor's ruling. because of the sensitivity of the case at this point, the questions are limited to just a couple of predetermined questions for teresa lewis. we're also not allowed to bring

cameras into the facility where she's being help. we're speaking to her on the phone from her unit on death row in virginia. if you could say anything to the governor at this point, what would you tell him? >> i would tell the governor if i speak to him one-on-one, how sorry i really am, for allowing this to happen to two people i love very much and i wish i could take it back. and i'm sorry for all the people that i've hurt in the process. >> reporter: lewis pleaded guilty in the 2002 murders of her husband, julianne lewis and her stepson, c.j. in their mobile home in southern virginia. this was a crime of conspiracy and lewis herself didn't fire the shots. the two men who did, including lead trigger man, matthew schallenburger only got life sentences. the judge called teresa lewis the head of the serpent. her attorneys say her iq is in low 70s, in the level of retardation.

>> is it your basic contention she was manipulated into this crime? >> yes, schallenburger has stated and experts who examined her agree, she was being used by him, not the other way around. >> he had an affair with teresa lewis before the killings. her attorneys cite a prison letter from schallen dullesbubu. he later committed suicide in prison. prosecutor david grimes says this. >> i can frankly say teresa lewis is as evil a person as i've ever met. >> reporter: grimes says his investigation showed lewis herself took an active role in the plot, that she admifed and manipulated everyone from her late husband, to her lover, to her children. tests his side conducted

contradict those that say she's near retardation. >> you think she was faking? >> she certainly wasn't as one of the experts said in the habeas proceeding she wasn't motivated to score accurately and high on those tests. >> reporter: the contention she's faking a low i.q. is silly. one expert found she wasn't faking. >> okay, brian todd will join us live by the way next hour from jarrett, virginia, the place where teresa lewis is scheduled to die. i want to bring susan candiotti in again on the story of the nicaraguan diplomat who's been found dead in his apartment in the bronx. you have more information. >> the family of the diplomat has been notified. his name is cesar marcado. he's been the consul at the embassy for eight year here in new york. he worked as the consul during that entire time. he was found as we said earlier by a colleague this morning.

the front door left ajar, the diplomat's throat was slashed. >> wow. >> a knife has been record and police are investigating. according to the minister consular, he says we have no idea what would be the reason for such a horrendous act or even murder, he added, if it turns out to be the case. remember, police have not yet classified his death at this time. >> okay. thanks, susan. we'll stay on top of this. susan candiotti on top of this unusual development. this is of course interesting to us in particular this week because of all of the diplomats in town for the u.n. general assembly. there's a lot going on at the u.n. in fact, the u.n. says it will cut global poverty in half by 2015. and two game changers say we are on the way there. i sit down with ted turner, founder of cnn, along with a former senator, after this. if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope.

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welcome back to our show. every day at this time we talk about your money. in some ways today i'm going to do something a little different. i'm going to talk about someone else's money but how 2 can affect you and the world you live in. i'm joined by ted turner, the chairman of the united nations foundation and the founder of cnn. i'm also joined by former u.s. senator timothy worth. he's the president of the u.n. foundation. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. it's a pleasure to have you here. it's a big week at the united nations. one of the things our viewership has been interested in, because it's hard to connect to all the fancy, important meetings that are going on but the u.n.'s millennium development goals, the goals that were set a decade ago. we have five more years to achieve them, eight different goals. we'll put them up on the wall so our viewers can see them, where, ted turner, is the world in terms of the achievement of some of these goals or most of them?

where do you think we'll succeed and what do you worry about? >> one of the things that was holding real progress back and there has been a lot of significant progress, was some of the countries that made pledges had not funded them. and this meeting in new york that there's been a -- another look taken at it and most of those countries are committing to bring their -- get paid up and meet their commitment. and that will go a long way towards eliminating more poverty, which will go a long way towards solving the terrorism problem and just make us feel better. >> ted turner, the economy has been a contributing factor to some countries, not fulfilling their obligations to these goals or to the united nations. obviously that's what actually drove you first to get involved

with the u.n. you were disappointed with the united states not paying its bills to the u.n. are we better off today than we were than when you first started the foundation? >> yes. we're certainly better off. for instance, the united states, which is the largest member by size of the economy, we're up to date pretty much on our dues and our obligations and the rest of the world is, too, so the u.n. can meet its bills and i think the enthusiasm of this meeting with the millennium development goals, good things are happening. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty , the senate armed services committee has overwhelmingly approved. it it has to go to the full senate. we sure need to get that through. any viewers out there, write your senators and tell them to approve the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> do senators read these things

when people write to them? >> sure they do. senators are up for election at some point. they're sensitive to their constituents and there's still a hard-corset of group opponents who want us to build more nuclear weapons in this day and age. the whole idea is to draw them down. ted's been deeply involved in that with the nuclear threat initiative. former senator who leads that up, with bill perry and others, a real who's who of the establish 349 saying we have to draw down the number of nuclear weapons. we don't want to make a mistake. there are people out there who i would call, anadeluvian about this. this is the 20th century. >> that's progress. >> the obama administration gets kudos for pushing that. there's an establishment that doesn't want it to happen. that's always true when you're trying to make change. >> senator worth, thank you, ted

turner, pleasure to always have you back at cnn, the company that founded and thanks for your good work. >> good to be here. thank you. lly proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. diminishing the look of even deep wrinkles. 10 years? i'll take that! [ female announcer ] roc® we keep our promises. big oil and their backers are spending millions to scare us. 10 years? i'll take that! saying it costs too much to break our dependence on oil. what they're really doing is putting our security at risk. my big brother went to iraq to keep us safe. he came home in a flag-draped coffin. america lost another hero. big oil wants to talk about costs? don't let big oil lie to you about what our dependence really costs. the more you spend, the bigger the bonus, up to $250 to use on your next purchase. start earning with as little as $75 spent, including great sale prices.

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can you believe, this is the fourth year already of our cnn heroes initiative. once again, you came through. we got 10,000 nominations from cnn viewers in more than 100 countries telling us who your heros are. each week, we've inintroduced you to one of these

extraordinary people. today we reveal the top ten cnn heroes of 2010 as selected by our blue ribbon panel. each honoree will get $25,000 and a shot at the top honor, cnn hero of the year, which you get to decide. but first here's anderson cooper to introduce the top ten. >> reporter: i'm anderson cooper. all year we've been introducing you to our cnn heroes, every day people changing the world. today we're announcing the top ten cnn heroes for 2010. hot honorees are, in al bet fall order, guadalupe arizpe de la vega. susan burton, her reentry program helps female convicts get back on their feet. linda fondren. anuradha koirala. narayanan krishnan.

magnus macfarlane. harmon parker. aki-ra. evan wadongo and dan wallrath. congratulations. the top ten cnn here rose of 2010. go to cnn heroes.com to vote for cnn hero of the year. now, the top ten will be honored thanksgiving night at our fourth annual all-star tribute. only one will be named cnn hero of the year. that person will ab warded an additional $100,000 and as always, you get to decide who it will be. our voting site is live as of today. head over to cnnheroes.com. we have the top ten there and

you can click on them to refresh your memory about who everybody is and the incredible things they are doing. once you're set, hit the vote now button and choose the person who inspires you the most. cast ballots as often as you'd like or more than one of them. the last day to vote, november 17th. it's a high stakes dispute and it could affect products like the toyota prius, wind turbines and guided missiles. china plays hardball with japan. we have it covered in the live globe trekking report, right after this. in four weeks.en skine new aveeno tinted moisturizers.

time for globetrekking, our

top story, several tiny uninhabited islands in the east china sea are at the heart of an escalating dispute between china and japan. you had a dispute with worldwide ramifications which could seriously impact the production of hybrid cars, wind turbines and even guided missiles. can you even imagine what those three things have in common? at issue is the question of just who has sovereignty over the islands named diaoyu. jill will correct me on my pr pronunciati pronunciation. it's called senkaku by japan. they've been claimed by china and japan, two different countries. the dispute erupted earlier this month when japan detained a chinese fishing boat and its crew that was operating in the area. all but the captain have been released and china is demanding that he be returned. in response, china has blocked

vital exports to japan. okay, if you followed me this long, you'll want to hear more about this. joining me now is our foreign affairs correspondent joe doherty. the chinese and japanese prime ministers both at the u.n. right now. are they talking about this and what's likely to come of it. >> this has happened actually before. they've been fighting about this for a long time, the islands. they're volcanos, essentially, old, dead volcanos. what's happening now is china is not stepping back and trying to make nice. and so the united states right now is in the middle with two very important countries in asia, trying to find some way of bringing them together and resolving this. but it's a very serious issue. it's serious because in asia, i worked in hong kong for a while with cnn and definitely in asia, there's such concern by many countries about the growth and the size of china. and so this is all part of that bigger story as well.

>> now, this is obviously important because japan and china are two of the top three economies in the world. fastest growing economies. let's talk -- or the largest economies. let's talk about something else. i talked about wind turbines and toyota priuss. there are also minerals here. >> exactly. they're called rare earth minerals. >> right. >> and accord together research that i've done, china controls 97% of rare earth oxide and almost 100% of the production. why is important? as you mentioned, it's used in a lot of consumer products, consumer electronics products, missiles. and all this green technology for energy efficient machines and things like that. >> right. >> those are crucial components. so now the chinese have cut off -- there's a moratorium on shipping that or exporting it to japan. >> right. >> it's a major problem for japan and it's a major problem potentially for the united

states. which gets -- uses it as well and doesn't produce it. >> it's a secret that many people don't know. some of the stuff that gets us energy or allows to us use energy more efficiently uses this rare earth minerals. it never comes to our attention. >> exactly. >> we do need those but we then can have clean air energy. i think it's something we'll talk about a lot more often. thank you. >> thanks, ali. improving health and education, the foundation, it is changing the world one huge solution at a time. not small ideas. big ideas. today's big i coming up after the break. ybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it.

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an important ruling from the food and drug administration regarding the drug avandia came out just a short time ago. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen in atlanta with an update on this. what's the ruling and what are the impacts? >> before i get into that i want to back up a little bit. a lot of people haven't heard about this story in a while. when avandia came out 11 years ago it was supposed to be a wonder drug for diabetes. then when people took it, it was found they had a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke. doctors said if you want to continue to prescribe this drug, you have to document for each and every patient why they should be taking it and why they can't take anything else. chances are there will be a lot of doctors who will not want to do this. the doctors i've been talking to says prescriptions for avandia will be plummeting very soon.

we reached out to glaxo smithkline who makes this drug. here's what they had to say. the company continues to believe avanedia is an important treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes. ali? >> now, this restriction, this ruling by the fda, is that it -- people who can't be treated with something else can still get avandia. >> they can. i'll tell you, ali, i've talked to many doctors about this. they say, look, we think pretty much 99% of the paetschs out there can be treated with something else. they done the really see a reason why you'd want to use avanedia. some patients have said to the fda, don't take away avanedia, we love it. a lot of doctors say there's no reason for anybody to be taking this drug at this point. in europe they are moving towards taking it off the market very soon. >> wow. elizabeth, thanks for clearing that up. elizabeth cohen in atlanta, our senior medical correspondent. our big i is the x-prize

foundation, a nonprofit organization. the foundation creates and manages prizes for innovators to solve some of the greatest problems facing the world today. they think big. there are four categories of x-prize, exploration of space, the ocean and other unexplored frontiers in order to improve and extend life. next is the life sciences category, to improve health and decrease suffering. the energy and environment x-prize is water resource management, energy distribution and storage. clean energy and energy efficiency and finally, the education and global development x-prize is pushing for major development in agriculture, capital education and health and water. i want to introduce my guest peter diamondus, a friend of mine, he's been on our show before, because when we talk about our big i, i think the people like peter.

this guy thinks bigger than most people i have ever met. peter, thank you for joining us. >> ali, a pleasure. great to see you, my friend. >> i want to talk about this x-prize that -- let's talk about first of all how you got started on this idea with respect to the x-prize. >> i wanted to be an astronaut since my childhood and found out my chances of becoming an astronaut through nasa were 1 in 1,000. so i was reading about lynnburg that he crossed the atlantic in 1927 to win a $25,000 prize and that prize drove nine teams to spend $400,000 and they only paid the winner. how great is that? if i can create a prize for private spaceflight, that could be my tick tote space. we had a $10 million prize, drove 26 teams, spent $100 million. today we have virgin galactic and john carmac space

adventures. >> there's math who goes into this, in addition to the people doing the engineering. when i talk about the x-prize, i was talking about the google lunar x-prize. someone said to me, how do you -- it would cost way more money than that prize to create a vehicle that goes to the moon and does what you want. tell me about the google lunar x-prize and explain this business about how it's not you're doing it just to get this prize money but it has this multiplier effect. >> the google lunar x-prize is a $30 million cash purse that google's put up for the first time. all you have to do is build a robot, land it on the surface of the moon, send back photos and videos. we have 22 teams who entered the competition. it turns out recently that nasa has put up another 30 million in contracts, a great public/private partnership. but teams really think they can do it for $30 million.

maybe it's $40 million but when we constrain them to do it for less money, they really have to innovate and drive breakthroughs. that's where the breakthroughs come from. where teams that come up with brand new ideas, large corporations or governments would never try because they're risky but by definition, that's a breakthrough. >> so what do you -- when somebody asks me how can that prize pay for that thing, you're attracting people who otherwise might have been working on this or want to benefit from the idea that if they win this prize, it then attracts other investment into whatever problem you're trying to solve? >> exactly. so we design the prize as a back-end business model. we're really trying to bring entrepreneurs from around the world who come with a different way of thinking about this challenge. they say i'm going to solve it this way, burt ruttan thought he could fly to space originally for the $10 million purse. he ended up spending $26 million of paul allen's money. on the back end of this was a

multibillion dollar industry of private spaceflight. now virgin galactic is off and selling tickets. that's the model. we get the entrepreneur, they spend their hard-earned cash, other people's investments, they take large risks and if they do it, there's this giant increase in publicity, markets are created, capital flows in and we drive a new industry. >> god, you are such a big thinker. we love having you on the show and we love the work you do. i've seen you in action. i've seen you motivate people to do things that changes the world. the thing i want to talk to you about, we'll have to do it another time. i want to talk about one of the x-prizes next that you were influential in creating. one of the things i want to talk to you about, you don't stop at anything. you want to solve some of the big problems that the world faces, big problems some of us can't get our heads around. peter, always a pleasure for being with us. >> because we can. >> i love the attitude. that's what we do, peter

diamandis, ceo of the x-prize foundation. how many miles per gallon does your car get? imagine getting 100 miles per gallon. it's been done. it's connected to the x-prize. i'll introduce it to you next. sure i'd like to diversify my workforce, i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com.

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we were just talking about the x-prize. there's been a new x-prize that's just been completed. it's the progressive auto x-prize. the prize was funded in part by progressive, the insurance company. and i want to tell you a little about the winner. first let me tell you what it was about. it was awarded last week. there were three winners. the major focus is on efficiency, safety, affordability and the environment. participants had come up with a car that got the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon. it could be powered by anything but it had to get that equivalent fuel efficiency. the first prize winner went to edison tu. oliver cutner is joining me now. oliver, tell me about your car and how you did it. >> good afternoon. it's called the very light car because it's very light.

we felt you cannot get around the principles of physics. so low mass and low aerodynamic drag are the only real ways to do it. and it opens a whole new set of weigh much, you have to make it a safe car and it -- it just becomes a problem. we have reinvented the car by completely changing the architecture, the underpinnings of the car. it's a fundamentally different car from any car that's ever been built. and we found ourselves in a long series of positive feedback loops. safety was of absolutely paramount priority. and we held on to the low mass by basically having different architecture. >> tell me how the car is powered, first of all. we're looking at pictures of it. how is it powered? >> it's a gasoline-powered car. you can charge it up in five minutes at every street corner. it's just a wonderful system. but our car, if it's electric, it will be a more efficient

electric car. it really doesn't matter what kind of propulsion you put in it. we just changed the car. 3 1/2 horsepower propels it at 50 miles an hour. >> how practical can this get? so the idea is that the "x" pri prize wants -- the aim is to break through in technology, solve problems and then scale it up so it doesn't just run around a track. how scalable is this? can this be worked into some kind of a production car? can it carry more than -- more people in it? >> it's a four-seater right now. it's a method of building a car. you just notice the volkswagon jetta really struggling to keep up with it. it handles wonderfully. the method has huge potential. you just had a commercial of a company that spent 34 years refining a wonderful automobile. give us five years. we have a very powerful car or a car that can outperform -- handlingwise, outperform most cars. safety is going to be very good

in certain accidents, challenged in others. it's an opportunity for some public/private partnership. >> that's the point of the "x" prize. we'll give you five years, but every year in between, will you come back and give me an update on what's going on? >> i'll give you an update and we'll give you some test drives. >> perfect. you have a deal. oliver, thank you. congratulations to you and your team and congratulations to all the teams that participated, including the winners of the progressive auto "x" prize. >> there's one thing i'd really like to say. i really want to thank the department of energy of having supported this. because it motivated probably 1,000 people to think. it's a very powerful statement of money well spent, pushing the "x" prize. thank you very much. >> good point. oliver, thank you. the winner of the progresser auto "x" prize. to participate in the "x" prize or just read up on the innovations, and i really, really encourage you to do so. it's really brilliant. head to my blog, cnn.com/ali.

and we will give you all the information and links that you need. read up on it. a lot of cynics out there, but it really does work. okay. new york by the numbers. a pair of polls on the governor's race are telling very different stories. well-being.

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with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. for those of you political junkies, it is the most wonderful time of the hour. it's time for our politics update. right now, gloria bordure at the desk in washington, which is apparently the place to be. gloria, what is going on right now? >> ali, it's the place to be.

i'm so glad you're here with us today. >> thank you. >> it's an increasingly nasty race for governor of new york, as you know. we got a couple of polls out today giving us some confusing numbers here. one poll today shows democrat andrew cuomo ahead of the republican, carl paladino, by 33%. that's a really big lead. but another poll, ali, shows him only ahead by 6%. >> wow. >> so what's the difference here? this is what's really important to know, the closer you get to an election, the poll that shows 33% just is of registered voters. but the poll that shows it closer is of likely voters. and that tells the whole story of the enthusiasm gap we're seeing in this election, that likely voters are more likely to vote republican. that brings us to our second topic. because that is something that president obama spoke about specifically at a democratic fund-raiserer last night in new york. he said the single biggest threat to the party is apathy, and he said there are people

feeling, quote, we only got 80% of what we want, so we're going to sit on our hands. if that's the case, ali, the democrats could well lose control of the house and maybe even the senate. so that's not exactly what the president wants. and last, but of course not least, there's something from the annals of biden speak today. not too bad. sort of fun. when you see senator barbara mccullsky of maryland, football probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind, but today he called her his number one pick in fantasy football. i think it was just his way of calling her indispensable. she, of course, pointed out she's the only one in the senate who gets to call him biden. she still does, velshi, because she likes him. >> and, gloria -- >> and look who's here. look who's here. oh, my god. >> it was just two weeks ago where gloria came on and gave me a hug. i want people to know, i repay my debt.

>> nice. >> i've got to give my girl a hug right here. >> not only the best political team in television, but the f s friendliest. good to see you both. good to see you. be sure to stay with cnn for complete coverage of the key races and key issues heading into these midterm elections. mark will be with us for our next update, just in an hour. ♪

we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com deal! it is a new hour. i have a new rundown. you give teachers bonuses, they'll teach better and then the students will learn more. now a new study might be smashing that theory to pieces. i'll talk to the head researcher.

she's scheduled to be the first woman executed in the united states, in five years. she has less than seven hours to live. you'll hear what she told cnn. also, theresa heinz and glaciers. you're wondering what they have in common. you'll find out this hour. if you want to make a republican smile, mention the 1994 midterm elections. they came halfway through the first term of a democratic president, bill clinton. republicans picked up 54 house seats, eight senate seats. more than enough to win control of both houses of congress. 16 years later, we are halfway through the first term of a democratic president with a democratic majority in congress and republicans aren't the only ones who are making comparisons and predictions and promises. this morning the house republican leadership rolled out its pledge to america, a longer and less-specific version from 1994, the contract with america. the setting for the announcement, a lumber company in northern virginia. the key points are these. a halt to any stimulus spending and a rollback of overall

stimulus spending to prestimulus and prebailout levels. repeal of health care reform. permanent extension of the bush-era tax cuts for everybody, along with new tax breaks for small businesses. a freeze in non-security related federal hiring. and a requirement that all new legislation pass a constitution check. those last two points, freezing federal hiring and a constitution check, are a nod to a tea party, which handed several republican candidates their hats in this year's primaries. some brand new polling is boosting republicans' hopes in november senate races with one big exception. paul steinhauser joins me from d.c. to run the numbers. paul? >> we've been talking about the battle for the house of representatives. the republicans have a chance of winning it back. what about the senate? that's what these new polls are about. the republicans need a net gain of ten ciseats to recapture the

chamber. check out these brand new numbers. let's start in pennsylvania. that's a seat that is a democratic seat, arlen specter, but he lost the primary. you see right here, joe sestak, the democratic nominee, is trailing pat toomey, the republican nominee, by five points, 49% to 44%. that's within the sampling error of the poll, but republicans are ahead. ali, a similar story in wisconsin. let's look at that. russ feingold, long-time democratic senator, fighting for reelection, but our poll indicates that he is trailing the republican nominee in that state. and that is ron johnson, who is a tea party-backed candidate, down by six points. right at the edge of the sampling. troubling news for the democrats. other polls suggesting that fine finegled trails. let's head over to colorado. the democrat trails the republican nominee who, again,

is backed by many of the tea party movement. but as you gave -- mentioned off the top, what about delaware? that was the story we've been talking about since that primary a week and a half ago. it's very different there. christine o'donnell, the conservative candidate who knocked off the moderate republican in the primary, she's trailing chris coons. if castle had won, our polls indicate that he would be leading over the democrat right now. ali? >> that's the interesting thing to remember. you combine that with what gloria just told us. when you poll all voters versus polling likely voters, the situation changes a little bit. and so in delaware, it's really meant that a republican was in the lead until she won -- until o'donnell won the primary and now the democrat is in the lead. >> exactly. and, you know, gloria was just talking about that before mark preston gave her that beautiful hug on television. registered voters is what you

poll usually up until around the election. and then you move to a likely voter model. what the likely voter model is showing, the republicans are more likely to vote than democrats. six weeks to go, we'll see if that changes between now and election day. >> good. are you joining us at the end of the hour with mark? >> i look forward to it. >> all right. paul steinhauser, thank you. when you are the president of the united states, you may be in a suburban backyard one day and at a global arena the next. just ask president obama. a day after chatting up ordinary folks about health care, he took center stage at the annual meeting of the u.n. general assembly on the topic of middle east peace. as you may know, israelis and palestinians restarted serious talks three weeks ago after a break of about two years. the prospects of success are -- are uncertain at best. our sound effect is mr. obama's argument for pressing ahead. >> if an agreement is not reached, palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state.

israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to co-existence. the hard realities of demography will take hold. more blood will be shed. this holy land will remain a symbol of our differences instead of our common humanity. i refuse to accept that future. and we all have a choice to make. each of us must choose the path of peace. >> we are all waiting to see what happens on sunday, the end of israel's self-imposed freeze on expanding jewish settlements in the west bank. palestinians have made it clear they will not keep talking if the israelis resume building. okay. on to teaching. could paying teachers based on merit help fix our schools? the thought is that kids will

learn more, learn better that way. a new study, a rigorous study, says it won't work. i didn't believe it. i want to know why. i want to find out more. so will you after the break.

♪ all right. facebook's boy wonder may be following in bill gates' footsteps. mark zuckerberg is expected to announce that he is donating $100 million to the newark public school system. the 26-year-old was just listed by forbes magazine as the 35th richest american.

zuckerberg isn't from newark, but he may have been swayed by a conversation with the city's dynamic mayor, cory booker. booker has traveled the country trying to raise money for newark's beleaguered school system. the announcement is expected to come tomorrow, the same day a new movie about zuckerberg is set to hit theaters. we're taking a look at teacher merit pay. a new study done by vand erbilt university did the first rigilous test of merit pay for teachers. the study looks at 296 middle school math teamers from 2006 through 2009. half of the teachers were eligible for bonuses, ranging from 5 to $15,000 if their students' scores are higher than expected on tennessee assessment tests. 51 of the eligible teamers got a bonus at least once. that's about 34%. only 18 teachers got the bonus all three years. but overall, the student didn't test -- the students didn't test

better or learn any faster than those taught by teachers who were not eligible for bonuses. joining me now is matthew springer, the lead researcher on the study. matthew, thank you for joining me. i have to say, i don't really understand this. i sort of thought this was a foregone conclusion that if you -- if you're paying people for -- on a merit-based system that the outcome is going to be better. were you surprised by the outcome or did you not go into it with any expectation? >> we didn't go in with any expectations at all. i think the -- the most important piece here is that we haven't had any evidence on whether merit pay would work in education. we've been debating this for over a century. we brought to the table a study where we could address the question. i think it's important to stress that we only tested one form of merit pay. merit pay can take many different forms, and it's important that we continue to explore those as well. >> right. okay. that's a very important distinction. if somebody doesn't follow this

whole public education sort of issue that's going on in its specificity, you were looking at merit pay as tied to student performance. >> whether a teacher received a bonus or not was completely contingent upon their individual students' growth from one academic year to the next. but there's other ways to -- >> let's talk about that for a second. what are the other ways to look at this? what are the other ways to say that teachers can be paid on merit through other measurements? >> i mean, we could reward teams of teachers. so within school groupings, such as a grade-level team or interdisciplinary team. we could reward the whole school or a highbrybrid model of using individual awards in part and team level. we may reward different types of outcomes that don't necessarily have to be student achievement. >> now, let's talk about -- i want to tell you -- read you a

quote from arne duncan's spokesperson on this. she said, quote, while this is a good study, it only looked at the narrow question of whether more pay motivates teachers to try harder. she did it did not address the obama administration's push to change the culture of teaching by giving all educators the feedback they need to get better. now, in fairness, you're not saying that you were doing anything other than -- than taking this measurememeasuremen what do we draw from it? do you have something that gives us something that -- that you can look at, that teachers and administrators can look at positively? >> yeah. i think the -- the one major piece that we really can look at positively is that the teachers weren't against the program. 70% of those teachers who were eligible to participate participated. in the past, we have always heard that teachers don't want differentiating commmopensation

pay-for-performance. it's worth it. we can move forward and look at different models and not have to worry about the critiques in the past that have said it's never going to happen in education. >> right. and so much of it has been so politicized. what you've done is take the politics out of it and get all the parties involved to participate. so we will follow very closely the further research that you do. matthew, thank you for joining us. >> thanks. >> matthew springer is the assistant professor at vanderbilt university. all right. it's not a low-carb menu. it's a low-carbon menu. a restaurant that is saving the environment one order at a time. falling in love with the most personalized most customized piece of furniture you will ever own. ♪ get that one piece right and the rest of the room will just fall into place. it starts with you introducing yourself to the world of ethan allen.

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saving the planet one meal at a team. that's the way i like it. that's what one restaurant is doing by asking diners, would you like less carbon with that? here is becky anderson. ♪ >> reporter: this is not your typical fast-food restaurant. instead of counting carbs, the diners here in london are counting carbon. every item on the vegetarian menu has been chosen based upon its environmental sustainability. its carbon footprint calculated to include everything from how its ingredients are grown to how it's grown away and then compared to its fast-food alternative. the savings are noted. >> thank you. you just saved an average of 2.8 kilograms of carbon, which is equivalent to 16.8 miles driven in a car. >> reporter: it's an idea born out of necessity for life-long

vegetarian oswald. >> the additives used nowadays are -- they fit no criteria of being vegetarian. and sometimes no criteria of being an ingredient. >> reporter: and so she started researching what it would take to start up a chain of vegetarian fast-food restaurants and found inspiration in sustainability. >> it's in everything we do. it's in all our endeavors. >> reporter: endeavors that include the restaurant design. >> there are tables made of recycled plastic. the chairs are sustainable bamboo. we have recyclable packaging, down to our soup lids and stickers. >> reporter: even the electricity. >> and we also are using green energy from suppliers who are producing green energy rather than those who just have the certificates for it. >> reporter: some item ins ts i restaurant may not be so green,

which sparks criticism. they do serve soft drinks. >> it's part of providing customers a reason to come in as well, because we want to provide them a delicious meal, so having -- it's not the end of the world. >> reporter: their mission statement is unusual for oswald, who is married to the billionaire behind fertilizers, owner of one of the world's largest liquid ammonia plants. it's consistent with the restaurant's message. >> there's lots of people out there who, you know, have billions of dollars and they talk a lot, but they don't take it out of their pocket and put it in sustainability. i think we've put our money where our mouth is, and that's doing our bit. besides, as far as the -- it's an inherent part of farming.

it's not possible to feed the world without it. it is sustainable. >> reporter: for oswald doing her bit involves just one simple thing. to make the world greener. >> we have calories nowadays in restaurants. i want footprinting. >> reporter: that's carbon footprinting. one fast-food meal at a time. becky anderson, cnn, london. let me bring you up to speed. several key provisions of the health care reform law take effect today. preventative care now must be covered. children can stay on their parents' policies until they're 26 and lifetime coverage limits are gone. but check with your insurer, please. many of the new provisions only apply to new plans. you can find more information on these changes at cnn.com. blockbuster has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. the company was bushed to the brink. it's around $1 billion in debt.

last year, they closed 4,500 stores in the u.s. they'll keep their remaining stores open during the restructuring. and colombia's government is touting the killing of a rebel group's military chief in a bombing raid. he was believed to be the number two leader of farc, the armed rebel group battling colombia's government since the 1960s. the u.s. government had asked colombia to extradite the military chief to the u.s. to face charges. and last hour, we brought you first word of the top ten cnn heroes of 2010. when we come back, we'll catch up with the hero of the past, still going the distance to help the homeless. [ dr. banholzer ] every once in awhile

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okay. just last hour, we broke the seal on a big announcement and named the top ten cnn heroes of 2010. one of these incredible folks will be named the cnn hero of the year in our fourth annual all-star tribute on thanksgiving night. these are people you guys admired and nominated to get their good deeds some recognition. ann mahlum is familiar with the process. she was a top-ten cnn hero back in 2008. for a running club she started called "back on my feet." the goal was helping homeless folks she'd pass on her daily runs through philadelphia. we wanted to check in with ann and see how things are going two years on. she joins us from washington,

which is actually one of the several cities that "back on my feet" has expanded to. ann, i remember watching the story about you the first time. remarkable story. just take us back to that. you're from philadelphia. you are a runner. you'd come across homeless people in your run. tell us what happened. >> yeah. i was -- i lived about a half mile away from a homeless shelter and was passing a group of guys every morning who became my cheerleading squad. and running has always been a really powerful activity for me in my life. and running by these guys, they reminded me of my dad, who went through drug and alcohol and gambling recovery and never could figure out a way to help him. running doesn't discriminate. doesn't matter if you're white, black, rich, poor, homeless or not. running could benefit these guys as much as it helped me. in some weird way that i could help my dad by helping these guys. >> what is it about running? i've got to tell you, when times are not tough for me, i couldn't imagine getting up and running. for guys who are sort of set

back in life, what is it that this did for them? >> running is really primitive. there's so many life lessons that surround the sport about taking things one step at a time. you can't get to mile five without doing one through four first. it really allows you to understand goal-setting and really also understand what you're capable of and what your potential is and combine that with a positive support system of a group of people who are there to encourage you and, you know, offer you appreciation and credibility and, you know, just really be there for you. it's been having phenomenal results on a lot of individuals' lives. >> let's talk about this. back on my feet is in philly, baltimore, washington, boston and chicago. you just opened up chicago yesterday, i understand. >> yes. >> you are planning to double to ten chapters by the end of 2011. what does that involve? what does adding a chapter mean? what does that do? >> yeah. it takes a lot of -- it takes a lot of research. when we expanded to baltimore in 2009, a lot of people told us not to expand, but early on we

really took it on, our mission to want to help as many people as we possibly could. we spent the first year screwing up, making mistakes, fixing things, we knew that we had to try expansion and baltimore was a perfect city for us to do that in. through that process, we really learned about the things that had to be in place for us to be able to have these local chapters throughout the country. how they're going to work with the headquarters. so the organization has really been evolving and it's been a lot of fun and challenging and, you know, when we go into a new city, we have this three to four-month prelaunch period where we're talking with city officials, talking with other organizations who are working in this field, and working with our partners to really set up a system there for us to be successful. so, yeah, we are doubling in size next year in regard to chapters. in 2012, you know, who knows. it could be 15 or 20 more cities. >> well, we'll continue to follow you as we enjoy doing. thanks for the great work.

thanks for joining us today, anne. >> thank you. back to the heroes class of 2010. the new top ten will be honored on thanksgiving night, but only one will be named cnn hero of the year. that person will be awarded an additional $100,000. as always, you get to decide who it's going to be. this is a process that involves you at every step. our voting site is live now. head over to cnnheroes.com. we've got all the top ten there. you can click on them to refresh your memory about who everybody is and the incredible things that they're doing. once you're set, hit the "vote now" button. you can cast ballots for more than one person. the last full day to vote is november 17th. we'll tally those up for the cnn heroes all-star tribute hosted by anderson cooper. again, that is live thanksgiving night, november 26th. i know you'll all be full and sleepy. do it. watch this thing. it is incredible. okay.

huge protest at the u.n. ahead of mahmoud ahamadinejad's speech. we'll take you there. mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

a huge demonstration unfolds right now, right outside the united nations. protesters are denouncing mahmoud ahamadinejad, calling him a murderer among other things. just ahead of his scheduled speech. cnn's senior correspondent, allan chernoff, is joining us live. what's going on? >> ali, we're across the street from the united nations. as you can see, the rally actually is breaking up. but for 2 1/2 hours, a very impassioned crowd was shouting down ahamadinejad, protesting his presence here in new york, here at the united nations, in

particular complaining about his nuclear ambitions, about vils b violations of human rights. speaker after speaker referred to that. rudolph giuliani spoke. also, john bolton, the former u.n. ambassador. but the biggest crowd, the biggest applause of all, came for miriam. you see the purple balloons over here. she is the leader of the opposition in exile. she addressed the crowd from paris via satellite. frankly, this was a very well-organized rally. they were transmitting video feed over satellite and via the internet so that people in iran actually could see the thousands and thousands of people protesting. people did come from all over the world. i met people from luxembourg, from england, paris. one very interesting participant over here, amir. amir, you say that you have family in prison now still in

iran. >> yes, in fact, i have 18 members of my family. >> 18 members of your family? all sorts of alleged crimes? >> yes, exactly. in fact, they've been charged to be in support of the opposition movement against the regi regime. >> amir, how do you feel? now, you live here in the united states, you live in california i understand, right, sir? how do you feel about ahamadinejad coming here to the u.n.? >> i think it's shameful. it's very distressing to thousands of iranian-americans around the united states. in fact, many of them are here. 20,000 members of the iranian-american community all around the u.s., 40 different states, are here to show that there's a solution. that we say no to ahamadinejad. >> we've heard from the united states, they're saying that, oh, iran seems ready to have negotiations related to their nuclear ambitions. response? >> it's not true. it's not true. in fact, the message we're

sending here to the united nations, the u.s. and across the world, that negotiations, engagement and war as another option will not work. there's a third option and it's miriam. >> thank you very much, amir. people very, very emotional here, ali. it was a very interesting rally. lots of people packed in here, screaming down just before the iranian president is to address the united nations. >> thanks. we'll stay with you and find out what's going on. let us know if there are further developments there there are spectacular photographs i want to show you. they tell a grim story about climate change.

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let me bring you up to speed. new jobless numbers today show a rise in first-time filings for unemployment benefits. the labor department says 465,000 people filed last week. that's a rise after two straight weeks of decline. it was also higher than economists expected. economists say the companies are trying to cut costs and that means less hiring. 5 million cans of a popular baby formula are being recalled because of mugs. we're talking about similac formulas. they found evidence of beetles in the formula. you can find the full list at cnn.com. the fda has decided to severely restrict to popular drug avandia. they say it can only be prescribed to diabetes patients if there is no other option.

avandia had been linked to increased risk of heart attack or stroke. some have called for avandia to be pulled off the shelves altogether. glaxosmithkline say they believe the drug is important for the treatment of diabetes. in 2006, avandia sales reached $3 billion. when senator john heinz died in 1991, his widow was urged by many to run for the senate herself. that might have been the easy decision to make. instead, she made the personal choice to take up philanthropy. she has helped create the heinz awards. it gives out ten unrestricted prizes of $100,000 each to people who have created an inspiring body of work that addresses the world's environmental challenges. theresa heinz joins me now from washington and one of the winners of this year's prize is james balog. he started a project called the extreme ice survey.

sounds like an incredible challenge. he modified 39 nikon cameras with materials from his local hardware store, set them up around the world to take pictures of glaciers. the results were remarkable. you'll see them in a moment. he joins me from boulder, colorado. on a personal note, you have challenges with cancer, diagnosed last year. you look great. how are you feeling? >> it's a process. thank you for asking. and you kind of work on it every day. and people say it's all gone. well, i hope it's all gone, but you never know. you have to wait two, three years before you know. >> well, we're with you and we're thinking about you. >> thank you. >> james, you were already known as a nature photographer, but not -- i don't know. were you known as an environmentalist before you took on this project? >> well, not as much. a lot of my projects did tackle environmental themes, but it's been more explicit here.

honestly, i don't exactly consider this an environmental project. i consider this a collecting of rational evidence that reveals trends that are there for all to see if people are willing to look at it with eyes wide open. >> teresa, tell me how you make determinations about who gets the -- who gets the -- these prizes. >> we have nominators around the country. i don't know who they are unless every now and then i meet someone, and i did last week, who was a nominator. he says, i've been nominating for a long time. he said, have you won anyone? i didn't know they were nominators. they generally are experts on one of the five fields that we started these awards with. as you know, the awards were first of all five awards at 250. and in the last two years, we deemed that these issues facing

the world, call them environmental, call them anything you want to call them, but they're around reality in the world. and that we would instead give a body of people ten awards that would really tell a very big story, a bigger story than having someone in the arts, someone in technology, et cetera. what we will do next year, i don't know. so we have these nominators who send in a lot of names and material, background material on these people, and then we double-check all of that against all kinds of references. and then at the end, there are now 15 jurors. normally 50 jurors who come together and deliberate on their different sections on who the winners are. and they are definitely experts in the field. and i did not attend this year's jury meetings because i didn't feel quite up to it.

i normally go, run in, run out. i cannot participate in them. i keep away from that. but it's always a very exciting day when they meet because all of these jurors are very uplifted at the end of the day by the inspiring people that they, being experts themselves, read about and find out about. and i think the reason i did this is -- is important, too. it's not because my husband was only an environmentalist or o y only -- he was many things. but more importantly, he was very concerned that we do not have -- and he died in 1991, so almost 20 years ago. we did not have the ability to do a crossover between those that didn't trust business and the business folks that didn't trust the other side. and so there was not intelligent dialogue. and his interest was in

establishing that or enhancing that, enabling that. in the press, too. i mean, generally the press covers what is and if it isn't, they don't bring it up. >> right. that's a good point. >> yeah. and so it's reflective more than provocative. let's put it this way. >> fair enough. >> okay. >> that makes sense, yeah. go ahead. >> and so this -- this is -- this is intended to enable that conversation to go on, to be nonpartisan, to be based on facts. >> right. >> of course, on deductions some, but obviously on facts. >> right. >> and then it hopefully elicits from people not so much a defense response, but an interest response. >> right. >> and so -- and that's what we try to do is to -- to inspire people and say, my god, look at what these people have done and look how much good we can still do. >> you know, james, that's an interesting point that's made

there. you said you're not even sure it's an environmental project. you put yourself at personal risk and suffered some injury in telling this story. as an artist, i guess that's the same thing that teresa is saying. you're looking for some response to the work you do. if it's concurrent that that response is that people would like to save the earth, that suits you just fine. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, this is very much a combination of art and science. you know, there are about -- the art and science are two parts of the human experience, the human brain. when you merge art and science together, you get a deeper, richer, more dynamic understanding of what's going on in the world. if you just look at it from one side or the other. that's what we've done here. >> by the way, james, you did -- i wasn't kidding. i think you did -- you got some injury from this. hiking up all of these mountains and doing things like that has hurt your knee. >> yeah. i've left a lot of knee cartilage in greenland and

iceland, actually, and i've been through a couple of surgeries as a consequence, but i really believe in what i'm doing and i'll see this out to the end. we've got a few years yet to go. we will make it happen. >> thank you both. >> lots of people working with me. >> thank you both for telling us about this. >> thank you, my pleasure. >> thank you. >> pleasure to see you. we wish you continued good health. >> thank you. >> for more information, go to my blog, cnn.com/ali and i'll get you all the links you need. republicans unveiled their pledge to america today and the early reviews are in. male annouy with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal.

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time now for our politics update with cnn's senior political editor, mark preston, and paul steinhauser at the cnnpolitics.com desk in washington. looks like we're starting with you, paul. what's going on. >> come on over here. forget about that guy. let's talk about joe biden. he's really on the campaign trail a lot, helping out

democrats, doing the same thing again tomorrow. he's going down to florida. take a look at this right here on the ticker at cnnpolitics.com. he's going to florida, going to do a rally down there and do a fund-raiser as well. it's part of the job when you're the vice president. it's part of the job. hey, another thing, it's not even on the political ticker yet. i'm writing it as we speak. it's often been said this year is once again the year of the angera a angrier voter. a new poll out today indicates, yep, that's pretty much the way it is. republicans and independents are a lot angrier and more disgusted at the state of politics than democrats are. we had our own cnn poll last month that said the same thing. republicans, very angry about the condition of the country. democrats, not so much. it will be interesting to see if angrier voters are more inclined to actually vote on election day. that could be troubling for democrats. over to mark. >> hey, ali. there's been a lot of talk about the new republican pledge to

america. this is their governing policy. what is it? it's a campaign document, a campaign pledge of course to voters across the country saying that we can do better here in washington. but what are the reviews? no surprise, ali. democrats are painting it by and large, politicians are embracing it. but what are the conservatives saying? mixed reviews on that as well, ali. the national review says we'll take the pledge. and actually describes it as bolder than the contract with america. that's that 1994 document that newt gingrich used to take back control of congress. what are the red states saying? what they're saying is that it's an 8,000 -- if i can -- so many words here. 8,000-word term paper of rejurnr regurgitation that lacks leadership. let me point here quickly. boehner, i am the business community. this is an exclusive interview

that you will see only here on cnn from cnn's dana bash. he just did it a few hours ago, ali. big stuff. this is the new cnn politics redesigned wepsebsite. we're giving you an early view. take a look at it. >> you boys are both too young to have been this active back in 1994, paul, but the contract for america came with leadership and, frankly, i don't know how long it was, but you weren't -- you didn't have to read it to understand what they were saying. so really this success of the republicans is going to hinge on the idea that they can take this messaging from -- from their proposals and get it out there fast and make it resonate with people. >> i think you're absolutely right. that's -- you know, they were under pressure. republicans were under pressure. democrats criticizing them as the party in the know. they had to put this out to say this is what we stand for. we're not just against the democrats and the white house, but we need to stand for something. that's what this is part of as well. six weeks until election day.

we'll see how this plays out, ali. >> next time to say to you, you're too young to remember something, your response needs to be, oh, ali, you're the same age. you're too young to remember it, too. paul steinhauser and mark preston, good to see you both. all right. we'll keep you posted on that and have another update in the next hour. she's got seven hours left on earth. hear the voice of a condemned woman on death roy. with olay, challenge that with regenerist anti-aging eye roller. its hydrating formula with caffeine-conditioning complex perks up the look of eyes. it works in the blink of an eye.

we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪ okay. go to cnnheroes.com right now. the site is live. vote for the hero who inspires you the most. the site is always live. the voting is live now. all ten will be honored on thanksgiving night during cnn heroes, an all-star strtribute.

it is a must-see show. it's hosted by anderson cooper. if you have a dry eye after watching that, you are a cold-hearted person. the presiding judge has called her case one of greed, lust, and lies. all woven into murder for hire. teresa lewis pleaded guilty in the murders of her husband and step-son. she is due to die for it in less than seven hours. barring an unexpected reprieve, she will be the first woman executed by the state of virginia in nearly 100 years. the first woman executed in america in the last five years. but her situation has drawn global attention for deeper, darker reasons. cnn's brian todd has been following this case. he talked to teresa lewis from death row. he joins us now from virginia, the home of the greensville correctional center. brian? >> ali, teresa lewis has met with her spiritual advisers and her family. she is scheduled to meet with

her attorneys this afternoon. she is scheduled to be put to death about six hours from now, a little over six hours from now, here in the greensville facility. this controversy has several facets. you mentioned the case. she did plead guilty in the 2002 murders of her husband and step-son, but she did not pull the trigger in those murders. the two men who did, who conspired with her to commit this crime, got life sentences. she got the death penalty. that's part of the controversy. another part of the controversy is that her attorneys argue that she has a level of intelligence that is just above mental retardation and that she has dependent personality disorder, which makes her susceptible to be manipulated by others. the prosecutors say that none of that is true, that she has a level of intelligence above that and that she was actually doing the manipulating. on friday, i got a chance to speak to teresa lewis. this was just before virginia governor bob mcdonnell rejected her appeals for clemency.

i asked if she could say anything to the governor, what would she tell him? >> i would tell the governor if i could speak to him one-on-one how sorry i really am for allowing this to happen to two people that i loved very much. and i just wish i could take it back. and i'm sorry for all the people that i've hurt in the process. >> but on friday, the governor rejected her appeal for clemency. he rejected a second try at clemency. the supreme court has rejected her appeals. all of these appeals have been exhausted. teresa lewis, scheduled to be put to death about six hours from now, ali. >> brian, thank you for that. we'll stay on top of the story. if there are any developments, give us a shout and we'll get you back on. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol.

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